The Ravens are trying to rebound against a troubled Raiders squad in another AFC West battle.
“He was just really poised”, Cooper said of Carr, “really confident we would go down there and get some points”. “The fact that we finished out and got one, that speaks a lot about this team, especially when we’re going up against a great team like we did”.
With 10 grabs and 150 yards, Smith was a demon for the Ravens. “You want to take advantage of that”. He may be young, but he showed last season the qualities of being an excellent leader.
And very necessary for the Raiders (1-1), who were eager to avoid beginning the season with two straight home losses. The tunnel-visioned Ravens blasted the black and gold, 26-6. They’re not going to have to face Terrell Suggs, who is out for the year with a torn ACL. He was selected in the first round with the 10th pick of the 2013 NFL Draft by the Ravens at a time when the team was focusing on building the kind of defense that would put fear in the heart of National Football League quarterbacks.
The Ravens forced Peyton Manning to have one of his worst games in recent memory, but their offense was so anemic that they left Denver with a six-point loss. The run capped an 11-play, 93-yard drive.
Flacco responded by leading a pair of long drives for a field goal by Justin Tucker and a 7-yard run by Lorenzo Taliaferro that completed a 93-yard drive and tied the game with 7:03 to play. A late Nico Thorpe interception sealed it. Now, because of this haphazard defensive performance, the Ravens are faced with a first under coach John Harbaugh – an 0-2 start. Baltimore is the only winless AFC North team.
Reminded that the Raiders followed up their first win last season with a 52-0 loss to the St. Louis Rams, Del Rio was asked how he would prevent a similar mishap next week.
That game will also mark the Ravens’ latest regular-season home opener by date, breaking the 2010 record by one day.
Trestman and Flacco both agreed throwing deeper balls will help open things whether they are completions or not. We have a tough road ahead.
The Broncos defense also held the Ravens rushing attack to a 3.1 yards-per-carry.
But, as it usually does, the team had done plenty of research and planning into how the players would be affected by such a change in the routine. The Raiders needed to win a game because of their quarterback. But the ailment isn’t serious, and it won’t keep the quarterback out of Sunday’s game against the Ravens. The Ravens struggled moving the ball in general. They are going to need to get the Baltimore offensive line back on their heels and force them to guess which way the pressure is going to come from. This is a flawless game for Khalil Mack and the newly acquired Aldon Smith to step up their pass rush, disturb the Ravens offensive rhythm, and protect our suspect secondary.
The problem facing the passing attack is the matchup with Lardarius Webb and Jimmy Smith, two corners who combine to form perhaps the best tandem in the NFL.
But the Ravens persisted and finally broke through as the first quarter ended. Then, after forcing a punt, Oakland marched 84 yards on nine plays for a touchdown, Carr hitting Crabtree for 29 yards for the score.
The Raiders certainly dodged a bullet in that Carr’s hand was merely bruised and broken when he tried to stiff-arm the Bengals’ Adam Jones. In the receiving end, Marlon Brown had 25 yards in two receptions while Crockett Gillmore added 23 yards in two catches.
But Carr didn’t look their way on the game-winning play.